Clay Aiken has lots of amazing memories from the second season of “American Idol.” Not only did the singer skyrocket to fame on the show and become 2003 runner-up to Ruben Studdard, but Aiken also met his first boyfriend.
Aiken first opened up to the Washington Post in 2023 about falling for a staffer on the show when he was 24. But in a new interview with Pause Rewind, posted to social media on August 7, 2026, Aiken revealed it was the first time he’d ever had a romantic connection with another man.
Clay Aiken Says He’d Only Dated Women Before ‘American Idol’
Speaking with Pause Rewind in between filming scenes for his new “Rewind” music video, Aiken said, “Until I was on ‘Idol,’ I had never been with a guy in any way.”
The North Carolina native then quipped, “I always say every self-respecting Southern man, gay man, was bisexual at some point in his life, and so I figured I was bisexual. (I thought) ‘I’ve been with girls, and I look at guys.'”
“But at that point, until I was on ‘Idol,’ I had never been with a guy in any way,” Aiken continued. “I met my first boyfriend while I was in the middle of ‘Idol’ and I was like, ‘Okay, I guess this is it.'”
Even so, Aiken didn’t come out as gay publicly until 2008. When asked if he had been scared his romance with someone from the show would get out, he said, “No, no, no, because we were so damn sequestered.”
Aiken, who is back to releasing new music after many years, has not revealed the identity of his first boyfriend, but assured Pause Rewind, “I did not receive any favoritism because they didn’t work in any department that had anything to do with that.”
He then continued to spill the tea, laughing, “Season two was very laissez-faire. Oh, our season … everybody was with somebody. There were non-fraternization agreements that all the producers had to sign the next season!”
Clay Aiken Has Said He’s Perfectly Happy Staying Single These Days
ABCWhen Aiken first opened up to the Washington Post about his “American Idol” romance, he admitted, “There were a few affairs between our contestants and people who worked on the show.”
He didn’t elaborate on whether any of them lasted, but his relationship with the “American Idol” staffer eventually fizzled. The singer — who shares his teenage son Parker with his dear friend, Jaymes Foster — has shared very little over the years about his relationship status.
But in December 2024, he told People he’d grown very comfortable with being single, explaining, “I just turned 46, and I have discovered I’m too old to change my ways for anybody. Unless I can find somebody who’s happy to sit on the other end of the couch and not talk for hours at a time, then I’m perfectly fine not having to deal with that.”
He then joked that his “perfect soulmate” would be “perfectly happy to go for a full 24 hours in the same house, but not having to speak.”
